By Matthew Monks
Louis Restivo, 70, of Ozone Park, who Newsday reported suffers from diabetes, poor circulation and the early stages of dementia, pleaded guilty in February to the 1990 murder of crime family associate Anthony Tomasulo, whose body was found wrapped in a body bag in the back of a truck.Prosecutors said Restivo conspired to kill Tomasulo for withholding proceeds of the family's “Joker-Poker” gambling machines.The 10-year sentence was part of a plea deal Restivo made in Brooklyn federal court. After meting out the punishment, Judge Nicholas Garaufis said he would recommend that Restivo be sent to a federal medical prison facility in Massachusetts, Newsday reported. Restivo is the second Bonanno family leader Garaufis has sent to prison in the past year. In August, Bonanno family chief Joseph “the Last Don” Massino, of Howard Beach, was handed a life sentence for engineering seven gangland murders and running a gambling empire. Massino and Restivo were business partners in the now-defunct Casablanca Restaurant at 62-15 60 Lane in Maspeth, where prosecutors said Massino conducted much of his business. The federal government is in the process of confiscating the shuttered Italian eatery, which was among the $10.4 million in assets Massino was ordered to forfeit upon his conviction last year. Restivo's sentencing was another blow to the Bonanno clan, one of the city's five storied Mafia families. To date, a government crackdown has led to guilty pleas or convictions of more than 30 Bonanno associates in recent years. Last month, Queens prosecutors arrested 36 people allegedly tied to a $360 million gambling ring the family controlled from apartments in Flushing and Kew Gardens. Reach reporter Matt Monks at news@timesledger.com or 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
